This course focuses on the interaction of politics and finance in the context of East Asia. While finance has always been important to understanding the political economies of East Asia, attention to the financial sector has intensified over the last decade as states have sought to prevent a recurrence of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. This concern has been amplified in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Because the financial sector is large and complicated, this course restricts its focus to the way countries' largest firms and financial companies are run and their relationship to the government. In this regard, one of the clear trends over the past 15 years is the rise of state ownership. This is happening not only in China, but in much of East Asia. Hence this course is motivated by the following three questions: (1) in which countries and industries is state ownership increasing? (2) why?; and (3) what are the implications of this for Australia, East Asia, and the global economy?

Combination of short assignments, essay and examination at the discretion of the course convenor.